Ken Epp

[The Budget, March 27th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I want to ask the member a question along the same lines. I think my colleague was overly kind when he said the people who are donating. The fact of the matter is that the taxman reaches into our pockets and takes the money. We are considered very bad citizens if we do not fully comply with his request.

I am not against taxation per se. Farmers in western Canada are going bankrupt partially because of the huge tax load and now the added high fuel costs with huge federal taxes. Taxes are killing farmers and this is the money that is being used to presumably create jobs. It is killing thousands of jobs across the country and killing the small business of farming in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

[The Budget, March 27th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the member's speech and I want to ask him a question because he talked about reduction of debt. This is the biggest thorn in my side with respect to the budget. In so-called good times with surpluses there is no meaningful plan on the part of the government or the finance minister to reduce our debt and thereby reduce the interest payments and free up more money for actual program spending or for further tax reductions, which would be a huge boost to the economy.

The member admitted that he is young, and compared to me he is just a child. He may not know the answer to my question because he was only a babe in diapers when the Conservatives were running the country. They pretty well doubled the debt they inherited, mostly by doing nothing about it. They continued to add to it with deficits every year.

Why does he suppose that the Progressive Conservative Party, with nine years of majority government, never did anything about stopping the huge deficits it had every year during its term of office?

[Supply, March 21st, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the comments made by my hon. colleague. I would like him to comment on one thing.

It seems the Liberals over and over again are saying there is no problem, there is no money missing. Yet, the question is obvious. Why did the auditor general bring this problem to our attention a year ago? Why did officials in the human resources department call for an internal audit? Why have these things taken place if in fact there is no problem?

The Liberals are probably much more engaged in damage control and trying to smooth this issue over than to acknowledge the fact that there is a huge mismanagement of grant money and I would like my hon. colleague to comment on this fact.

[Supply, March 21st, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to respond. I have done this a couple of times before, but I would like to give an immense thank you again to the interpreters. Their brains must hurt by the end of the day, listening to this debate and speaking at the same time the words they hear in one language. I am actually a trilingual Canadian, but French is not one of my extra languages and I am totally dependent upon them.

My question for the member is actually twofold. First, in view of the fact that the motion calls for the creation of an independent inquiry, do Bloc members have any concerns when they look at the history of the Krever inquiry, the Somalia inquiry and the peppergate inquiry? These so-called independent commissions do not really appear in the end to be very independent. Would the hon. member have any comments on that?

Second, does he know whether in his riding taxpayers are paying more to Ottawa than they get back, or do they get back less than they send to Ottawa? I am not sure if he would have the answer to that question, but I would like his opinion on it.

[Supply, March 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have several questions but I will limit it to one. It is very important, in order to assure Canadians that their money is being handled properly and honestly in Ottawa, to have total openness and total transparency on these issues.

When commissions, studies and committees look into these matters, over and over information is hidden from us because of the claims of privacy. My contention is that if someone receives public money, by virtue of the fact it is public money it no longer is private.

Would the hon. member tell us her view on this point and whether she would favour an implementation of the Privacy Act in such a way that these things could actually be disclosed openly and honestly to Canadians instead of hiding behind the Privacy Act?

[Supply, March 21st, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak. The member opposite did not address the motion. The motion has to do specifically with the mismanagement in the Department of Human Resources Development.

He spoke glowingly of the auditor general, yet he failed to point out or to remember the fact that it was the auditor general who almost a year ago released his report that drew attention to this great mismanagement. As a matter of fact the auditor general has been raising such questions for a number of years. Finally the media and the official opposition were able to get together in such a way to make this an issue across the country because Canadians are concerned about the mismanagement of their money.

The debate is not on whether or not some of the programs are good. Some are, some are not. The debate is about the lack of accountability.

I am amazed that the member did not see fit to address the real question. For example, some 85% of the applications did not have even a supporting application form. That is mismanagement of the greatest form.

That is what we are trying to address. We will continue to do that. I think members of the public in Canada will applaud us and not the wasteful Liberal government.

[Privilege, March 3rd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, in view of what I anticipate will happen in a few seconds, I would like to withhold my statement now.

[Supply, March 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed the debate on health care today. It is healthy for us to get down to the nitty-gritty of what makes the health care system work.

These days we are remembering the first anniversary of the death of my aunt who was in a publicly funded hospital in Saskatchewan. I wanted to say that because otherwise people would think that this has to be Ralph Klein's fault. But she was in Saskatchewan, the home of medicare. Basically she got terrible care. I hate to say this but it is true. She fell out of bed after having a stroke, not once, not twice, not three times but four times because there was no staff available. When she rang for help no one came. Finally she tried to get out of bed herself in order to go to the washroom and she fell and injured herself terribly.

Finally her family said enough of this. They moved her from that publicly funded hospital to a care centre that is operated by a religious organization. She got excellent care there until she passed away about a year ago.

No matter how we cut it, there is deep trouble in the public health care system when for whatever reason, and whether it is the federal or the provincial government that is involved, there is not enough money to hire enough staff so that people who are in hospital can be looked after in a reasonable fashion. It is atrocious that the Liberal government with all its cuts to health care has hampered the ability of provinces like Saskatchewan to provide health care for its citizens.

Provinces simply do not have the money. They are still forced to send taxpayers' dollars to Ottawa and they do not get them back in proportion. I would like the hon. member to comment on the actual funding part of it.

[Government Grants, March 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, for a number of years I taught mathematics and finance to banking students at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

I had a very unfortunate experience when I caught three students cheating on an exam. I recommended that these students be immediately withdrawn from the program, arguing that they were people who would be handling large amounts of other people's money in their careers and their absolute trustworthiness was absolutely essential.

Now we have the top banker in Canada, the finance minister, not lifting a finger in protest over the lack of trust generated by the mishandling of billions of taxpayers' dollars. I do not know why he or the Prime Minister does not take action. Of course, it is uncomfortable to remove people from their positions, but it has to be done or the public trust will be lost.

[The Budget, March 1st, 2000]

Not true. You are such a liar. You are just plain and simple lying.